Carnivores from the late Pleistocene locality Melitzia Cave (Mani peninsula, Greece)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mani peninsula is considered an important region for the Palaeolithic research of Greece. A considerable number of sites have been excavated to date, containing deposits with cultural remains from the Middle Palaeolithic, the Upper Palaeolithic, and the Neolithic period. Melitzia Cave is a cave locality filled with Upper Pleistocene deposits, yielding in the upper stratigraphic units fossil remains of numerous large mammals and small vertebrates along with cultural remains, indicating that the cave was inhabited by both humans and carnivores. The layers date to the Upper Pleistocene, and more specifically between 46,448–44,553 BP and 11,150–10,680 BP. The present study focuses on the recovered carnivore assemblage of Melitzia Cave, which has revealed the presence of Crocuta spelaea, Vulpes vulpes, Felis silvestris, Meles meles, Mustela nivalis, Martes sp., ?Ursus sp., and Carnivora indet., described in detail herein. This species composition is typical for the late Pleistocene of Southeastern Europe.